An Art Trading Card or ACEO (art card original and edition) is a 2.5 x 3.5 inch work of art. It is the same size as a standard playing card.

How can you fit a work of art onto something that small? Well, it turns out that this format works well for anything from ink, pencil, colored pencil, watercolor , acrylic and oil to collage and altered art and even fiber and polymer clay art. Any medium that lends itself to being relatively flat and not terribly fragile works well.

My preferred medium is watercolor, with colored pencil and ink-and-wash a close second. The key is to pick a medium you enjoy working in, whatever that may be. Then, try some subjects on a support the size of a playing card and see what happens. Many artists report that making ATC cards is ADDICTIVE and I can say for sure, this is true! I was skeptical, but after making two or three cards, I was hooked.

The cards require minimal materials and can be quick to make compared to a larger work of art. For example, some of my full size watercolors (22x32 or 9x12, typically) can take over a week to paint, but I can make a card in a few hours or even under an hour.

One important idea to grasp about designing your card is that the entire picture does NOT have to be on the card. Leave much out--leave a lot to the imagination of the viewer. They can fill in what you didn't paint and this effectively makes the size of your work of art much, much larger.

Historically, miniatures have been collected with great enthusiasm and you may choose to paint or draw complex subjects in a much reduced size.  But you can also go large and keep the designs simple.

Since you are painting or designing quick and small, you can do series of related things and make a large work of art from components consisting of individual cards. Think of a series of scenes of your town, sets of objects (shoes, purses, baseball hats) or pieces of a large object (various aspects of a building or a statue.) You can paint the same landscape in varying lights as Monet painted his cathedrals and haystacks.

In a small format, colors stand out. You can try going brighter. Conversely, you can do a monotone, with accents quite effectively. Embellishments that you would NEVER use on a regular painting can also be very effective. I use flat-backed Swarovski crystals, gold metallic paint, irridescent paint and glitter pen on occasion, but I never use these in my larger works.  In any case, you can step out of your art comfort zone and you may discover something new that you'd like to try in large format.

Think of the art card as almost an ornament, something to carry around, or display on a small tabletop easel. But you aren't limited there, either. Some people matt art cards in GIGANTIC matts and then frame them, making these small works suddenly much more important. You can also keep your cards in sheets used for sports cards in a notebook, or attach them in scrapbooking pages, making them part of the scrapbook process.

If you can't draw, use graphite paper or trace your outline onto your cardstock and then fill in with paint or ink or pencils.  But there are a lot of good books and videos on how to draw. A small format can be less threatening than a large, blank piece of paper.

A fun thing to do with the family is to have an art afternoon and have the kids and parents or grandparents all make cards--perhaps take up a theme (Summer fun, fruit and veggies, my pet, what's in my closet, school, sports, for example) and then create cards. When you are all finished, string a line from two eye hooks on the kitchen wall and clip up the art and have a clothesline show. Or make magnetic-backed holders by gluing magnetic strips to the back of rigid plastic sports card protectors, and hang them on the fridge. You can also list them on Ebay and sell them --many people like to collect cards. Have an art show once a month with the kids in the neighborhood or have a table at the community yard sale. Art is a tremendous outlet for kids and adults alike, and it taps into parts of the brain that are not routinely used by school and office work. Bring out the inner artist in you by making art cards!